Health bosses planning to axe 12 beds as part of a £27 million shake-up at a south Shropshire hospital were forced to open extra ones for more than four months in a year, it emerged today.

Four additional beds were needed at Ludlow Hospital in March, April and May last year and from January 6 to February 17 this year.

The figures were released by Shropshire Primary Care Trust under the Freedom of Information Act.

As they currently stand, plans to include the hospital as part of a new healthcare facility would cut the number of beds from 40 to 28.

Peter Corfield, chairman of Ludlow Hospital League of Friends, said: “The recent ballot of League members showed that over 75 per cent of those who responded required the committee to negotiate on this 28-bed issue.

“A number of additional comments were made, such as ‘It’s ridiculous to build a hospital with fewer beds than we have now.’

“The Primary Care Trust have told us that all the issues surrounding the number of beds are being re-examined and we look forward to further negotiations.”

Simon Kenton, director of joint commissioning at Shropshire PCT, said: “From time to time, there are peaks of demand for beds, especially in the severe winter conditions.

“When that happens, the PCT commissions extra beds, for example in the community hospitals and in the independent sector, to deal flexibly with the seasonal variations.

“The majority of these beds are opened to increase the capacity at the county’s two main acute hospitals – often when emergency admissions have significantly increased – rather than being needed for the community hospital itself.

“This is a normal way of coping with unpredictable fluctuations in demand, which take place across the country.

“The bed numbers being considered for a new hospital in Ludlow will be worked out using an established model, approved by the strategic health authority.

“Through the business planning process, we continue to monitor and keep under review the appropriateness of planned numbers.”